Method of manufacturing synthetic star sapphire jewelry piece



J. G. DONADIO May 7, 1963 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SYNTHETIC STAR SAPPHIRE JEWELRY PIECE Filed Oct. 10, 1960 FIG. 7

INVENTOR. JOSEPH G. DONADIO BY Km, DJM 14.46

United States Patent 3,088,194 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SYNTHETIC STAR SAPPHIRE JEWELRY PIECE Joseph Genoa Donadio, 1776 Foster Ave., Schenectady, N.Y. Filed Oct. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 61,667 4 Claims. (Cl. 29-160.6)

This invention relates generally to the manufacture of jewelry and more particularly to the manufacture of a jewelry piece containing a synthetic star sapphire.

In the production of certain types of jewelry and especially in the production of school jewelry wherein all members of a graduating class seek to purchase identical jewelry pieces, it is desirable to produce an acceptable product which can be sold on the market at a cost within the reach of the majority of persons. Many attempts have been made to fill this definite need and certain synthetics have been used in the manufacture of such jewelry. For the most part, however, in order to maintain the ultimate selling price within the reasonable reach of school graduates, the piece has been produced in such a manner that it is either fragile, the stone does not glisten or exhibit jewel characteristics, and/or the stone used in the piece has been so small that it has appeared out of proportion with the piece setting.

The synthetic star sapphire jewelry piece which is the subject of this invention satisfies the requirements for an acceptable product which can be sold on the market at a cost within the reach of the majority of school graduates and the jewelry piece which is the subject of this invention has characteristics which overcome the difiiculties in such pieces heretofore produced.

The invention herein disclosed has as its principal object the provision of a method of producing a piece of jewelry containing a synthetic stone which will exhibit a brilliant star when subjected to a point of light.

Another object of this invention is to disclose a method of producing a synthetic star sapphire for use in a jewelry with a minimum of expense, a minimum of expensive materials and in a relatively short period of time.

A further object of this invention is to disclose a method for production of a synthetic star sapphire jeW-J elry piece which will maintain its characteristics indefinitely and resist damage due to wear.

A synthetic star sapphire jewelry piece and the method of manufacturing the same is described herein with references to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a boule of synthetic material as received from, the producer thereof;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of. a wafer cut from the boule shown in FIG; 1;

FIG. 3 is a front. perspective view of two of the fix.

tures used in practicing this invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a star stone constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention and ready for insertion in a setting;

FIG. 5 is a segmentary front view of the assembled gem in a jewelry fixture;

FIG. 6 is a segmentary side view of the assembled gem in a jewelry fixture; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a surface of one of the com- 3,088,194 Patented May 7, 1963 synthetic can be successfully used in the practice of this invention it the difference in chemical formulae is only to include coloring. Thus, a stone having a chemical formula Al O MgO has been used with a melting point of 2135 C., a cubic crystal system with a refractive index of 1.72. In its preferred form, however, the synthetic sapphire is used having the characteristics and formulae set forth above.

Boule 10 upon receipt from the producer thereof is cleaved along stress lines such as, for example, stress line 11 shown in boule 10 in FIG. 1. The cleaving can be accomplished by simply hitting the boule with a hammer or other weighty object. Slabs are then cut from the boule to obtain wafers for working. An elevation of one of these wafers is shown in FIG. 2 and indicated therein by the numeral 12. The wafer shown in FIG. 2 has an outline which is a perfect circle, however, in practice this is not always the case. The Wafer is then cut, shaped and polished to obtain a dome-shaped stone similar to a cabochon.

In the working of the stone the cutting is accomplished with diamond impregnated blades as is the standard procedure in the lapidary trade and where grinding is necessary, a face is used on the grinding machine impregnated with diamond dust. The original cleaving of the boule prevents breaking of the stone later while it is being worked on, or breaking of the stone after it has been installed in a piece of jewelry.

In the shaping of the wafer or stone shown in FIG. 2 a flat surface is formed on the stone. In FIG. 4 an exploded view has been made illustrating component parts of the resultant product. The part indicated by the numeral 13 is the stone substantially in the form achieved during the finishing, shaping and polishing. It is noted that dome 13a is present and opposite dome 13a is a highly polished flat surface 13b. The surface 13b has been polished to a very high degree and a diffraction pattern is applied thereto.

In order to apply the diffraction pattern to the polished flat surface 13b of the stone, several fixtures are used. Two of these fixtures are illustrated in FIG. 3'. The first, which is a board in the form of a hexagon, is indicated generally by the numeral 14 in FIG. 3, and the second which .is a board provided with a flat upper surface is indicated generally by the numeral 15 in FIG. 3. The

fiat upper surface of board 15 is indicated by the numeral 16 and a straightedge 17 is provided projecting upwardly from surface 16. An opening or slot 18 is provided in board 14 and these two fixtures together with like fixtures are used to establish a diffraction pattern on flat surface l-3b of stone 13.

After the surface 13b has been polished and in order to apply the diffraction pattern thereto surface 16 of board 15 is covered with lead which is impregnated with diamond dust and mineral oil. The diamond dust is of suitable mesh and, as will be explained below, several values. of mesh are utilized. At this step in the process, however, the diamond dust used has a mesh of about 600 per square inch and the mineral oil is used to help hold the diamond dust to the lead. The mineral oil is used merely to wet the diamond dust. Wax is then placed within slot 18 in board 14 and dome 13a of stone 13 is inserted within slot 18 with flat surface 13b projecting therefrom. One edge of board 14, such as side 14a, is then applied to straightedge 17 and rubbed back and forth thereon. A group of parallel grooves will then be obtained in surface 13b. The board 14 is then rotated so that side 14b is adjacent straightedge 17 and the process repeated after which side is placed adjacent straightedge 17 and the process repeated. This results in establishing on surface 13b of stone 13 a diffraction pattern consisting of three groups of parallel lines. The

lines of each group form with the lines of either of the other groups an angle of 120. The lines are in the form of grooves in surface 13b of stone 13.

For an excellent diffraction pattern it is advisable to repeat the process utilizing first diamond dust of 700 mesh and then diamond dust of 800 mesh. For this purpose best results have been obtained by utilizing two additional boards of the type of board 14.

A light reflecting material which is also a bonding agent is then applied to the flat surface of the stone over the diffraction pattern. The bonding material which has been used with success in practicing this invention consists of an alloy containing 30% lead, 60% tin and titanium. This material, which is indicated generally by the numeral 18' in FIG. 4, accomplishes two things: it reflects a point of light which is directed toward the finished product and also the material enables the bonding of a stone backing 19 to stone 13. The stone backing is a much cheaper grade of material than dome 13 and forms the bottom part of the stone.

The combination of stone 13, stone backing 19 and bonding alloy 18' is placed in a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is then evacuated and the stones are heated with induction heating. When the stones reach a temperature of about 550 to 650 C. the titanium, tin and lead go into an alloy and at the same time the stones are wetted for a high degree of bond. The vacuum prevents oxidation and gives the wetting agent needed. The wetting ability of titanium under these conditions gives an excellent result and the tin and lead are sufliciently fluid to prevent cracking of the stone sapphire. The alloy achieved in the furnace upon heating, of course, could have been achieved prior to heating. In the preceding description wafer 18 was referred to as an alloy of tin, lead and titanium. Wafer 18' can be an alloy of these three materials prior to insertion in the vacuum chamber or the alloy can be achieved in the chamber itself. When the desired temperature is reached a high degree of bond is achieved and as the star is cooled to room temperature the excessive bonding alloy is removed and the stone is shaped to fit standard bezels and other jewelry fixtures.

The resultant stone appears as a beautiful star sapphire and the backing 19 aids in reducing the ultimate cost of the stone. A ring formed with such a stone can be marketed at a price which can be paid by the majority of school graduates and the ring will maintain its characteristics over long periods of time. 7

Thus, among others, the several objects in the invention as specifically aforenoted, are achieved. Obviously, numerous changes in construction and rearrangement of parts might be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a synthetic star sapphire for use in a piece of jewelry consisting of obtaining a boule of the synthetic sapphire material, cutting a stone from the boule, shaping the stone so that it has at least one flat surface, fastening the stone to a surface of a fixture having a plurality of straight sides, rubbing the flat surface over a flat surface covered with finely divided diamond dust to obtain a diffraction pattern by utilizing the fixture, the flat surface over which the flat surface of the stone is to be applied having a straightedge projecting upwardly therefrom, a side of the fixture being rubbed against the straightedge of the surface containing the finely divided diamond dust particles during the first mentioned rubbing step with the flat surface of the stone in contact with the dust, applying a light-reflecting material to the flat surface, bonding a backing to the flat surface and fastening the resultant stone into a jewelry fixture.

2. The method of producing a piece of jewelry containing a synthetic star sapphire in accordance with claim 1 in which the fixture used has three straight sides at angles so that upon applying each of these sides in turn to the straightedge of the surface containing the diamond dust and by passing the flat surface of the synthetic stone over the diamond dust with each of the three sides of the fixture applied to the straightedge a diffraction pattern will be obtained consisting of a series of grooves in the flat surface wherein the grooves will be at angles of 120 with each other.

3. The method of producing a piece of jewelry containing a synthetic star sapphire consisting of obtaining a boule of the synthetic material, cleaving the boule along stress lines, cutting a stone, shaping the stone so that it has at least one fiat surface, polishing the flat surface, taking a board with a flat upper surface and a straightedge projecting upwardly therefrom and covering the board with lead impregnated with diamond dust and mineral oil, taking a six-sided fixture and forming a slot therein, inserting wax in the. slot, inserting the synthetic star sapphire in the wax with the flat surface exposed, placing a side of the fixture against the straightedge of the board and rubbing the flat surface of the stone against the diamond dust, placing a second side of the fixture against the straightedge and rubbing the flat stone, placing a lightreflecting material adjacent the flat surface of the stone, fastening a stone backing against the light-reflecting sur- 0 face material and placing the resultant stone into a jewelry fixture.

4. The method of producing a piece of jewelry in accordance With claim 3 in which there is utilized diamond dust of diflferent mesh when the second side of the fixture is placed against the straightedge and the flat stone rubbed in order to obtain a second set of lines of different depth and width than the set of lines obtained by rubbing the stone with the first side of the fixture against the straight- 

1. THE METHOD OF PRODUCING A SYNTHETIC STAR SAPPHIRE FOR USE IN A PIECE OF JEWELRY CONSISTING OF OBTAINING A BOULE OF THE SYNTHETIC SUPPHIRE MATERIAL, DUTTING A STONE FROM THE BPOULE, SHAPING THE STONE SO THAT IT HAS AT LEAST ONE FLAT SURFACE, FASTENING THE STONE TO A SURFACE OF A FIXTURE HAVING A PLURALITY OF STRAIGHT SIDES, RUBBING THE FLAT SURFACE OVER A FLAT SURFACE COVERED WITH FINELY DIVIDED DIAMOND DUST TO OBTAIN A DIFFRACTION PATTERN BY UTILIZING THE FIXTURE, THE FLAT SURFACE OVER WHICH THE FLAT SURFACE OF THE STONE IS TO BE APPLIED HAVING A STRAIGHTENDGE PROJECTING UPWARDLLY THEREFROM, A SIDE OF THE FIXTURE BEING RUBBED AGAINST THE STRAIGHTENDGE OF THE SURFACE CONTAINING THE FINELY DIVIDED DIAMOND DUST PARTICLES DURING THE FIRST MENTIONED RUBBING STEP WITH THE FLAT SURFACE OF THE STONE IN CONTACT WITH THE DUST, APPLYING A LIGHT-REFLECTING MATERIAL TO THE FLAT SURFACE, BONDING A BRACKING TO THE FLAT SURFACE AND FASTENING THE RESULTANT STONE INTO A JEWELRY FIXTURE. 